Accessibility links

Navigation

Film Studies A Level at Stratton Upper School

Course description

Film Studies is designed to enrich your existing appreciation and enjoyment of the film. It is a well-established academic subject which offers you the opportunity to engage with a wide range of different films and gain confidence with a range of critical approaches to film, learning to ‘read’ a film, considering the nature of the relationship between an audience and a film, and studying the importance of social and institutional factors to film production. The subject lends itself to a wide range of approaches: class discussion, individual study and research, written analysis, essays, writing screenplays, producing storyboards and film journalism. There will also be opportunities for cinema visits. You will also have opportunities to develop skills of critical analysis, to examine the meanings and values contained in films, to understand and ‘read’ the language of films, and to understand cinema as an industry.

Course content

AIMS OF THE COURSE

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of film as an audio-visual form of creative expression together with its contexts of production and reception and of the diversity in filmmaking across different historical periods and locations.

Apply knowledge and understanding, including some of the common critical approaches that characterise the subject, when exploring and analysing films and when evaluating their own creative projects to show how meanings and responses are generated.

Demonstrate the ability to devise film projects creatively, applying appropriate planning and production skills effectively.

Demonstrate the ability to undertake, apply and present research into film topics.

WHAT WILL I STUDY?

AS aims to deepen students’ understanding of film as an art form, and encourage them to engage with the ways in which meaning is created, conveyed and construed. The exam focuses on the contemporary film industry and the role of producers and audiences.A2 requires students to look at various critical approaches, taking a broader approach.The exam looks at the different ways in which emotional responses can be triggered in audiences, World cinema and their Urban stories or Empowering women and critical; study of Fight Club. Both years, the coursework consists of a written and practical element.

Assessment

AS Level:Exploring Film Form (FM1) – 40% courseworkFocussing on micro features of film and the construction of meaning and emotion.

British and American Film (FM2) – 60% examinationFocussing on two key aspects of Film studies: Producers and audiences and the relationships between them, and the role of macro features of the film (narrative and genre) in constructing meaning.

A2 Level:Film Research and Creative Projects (FM3) – 50% courseworkUnderstanding will be fostered through completing a small-scale research project designed to develop research skillswithin the framework of one or more critical approaches used in film studies and developing creative skills and a deepened understanding of the medium chosen for the creative project.

Film Experience: Issues and Debates (FM4) – 50% examinationThis unit contributes to synoptic assessment. Understanding will be fostered through studying complex films from different contexts, extending knowledge of the diversity of film and its effects. Exploring spectatorship issues in relation to a particular type of film and applying key concepts and critical approaches gained throughout the courseto explore one film in a synoptic manner.

Future opportunities

After A Level, students could take further education courses in film industry and management, as well as more specific courses to do with Photography and Filming or Script Writing. There are many careers relevant to Film Studies. Within the film industry itself such as: Directors, Video/film recorder operators, Broadcasters, Scriptwriting, Producing, Final editing, Journalism, or in the art/design/culture sector.

How to apply

If you want to apply for this course, you will need to contact Stratton Upper School directly.